Humanity

Chapter 3

Humanity
Chapter 3
Rain Dawson

Rain Dawson pulled her skirt up higher as she pushed through the murky water the was used by the 1s and 2s of the area to wash clothing, it was a small spring that provided a great pastime to the women of the region. Pulling her legs up higher she did her best to tread carefully through the muddy sediment that lined the spring.

"I'm sure I dropped it 'round there Rain," Maxwell repeated pointing the the spot where Rain stood.

"How do you expect me to find it in this muddy water again?"

"Because you can literally find anything, also I have faith in you." Maxwell said with a sly smile.

Rolling her eyes Rain moved her toes a bit more before feeling something odd pinched in the sediment, widening her eyes she signaled to Maxwell that she may have found the thing he had searched so hard for. Shutting her eyes and taking a deep breath Rain bent down and using her hands pulled the chain up from the ground, with enough pull it can loose from the rocks that pinched it and Rain displayed it before her.

"Boo-yeah!" Maxwell said jumping up and down, "Ophelia woulda killed me if I lost the necklace Granny gave to her fer her sixth birthday."

Rain proud of a job well done pulled herself up out of the spring and wrung out her skirt and wet hair.

"You get that back to Ophelia as soon as possible, ye hear?" She said before shaking her hair to dispel some more of the water in her hair.

"Too bad you got all wet, why don'tcha come home with me, Ophelia oughtta have a dress yer size. Plus I've got some letters you've gotta decode fer me."

"Letters from Alo?" Rain said, features lighting up, she loved decoding the letters from Alo.

"The spiritual guide himself," Maxwell said as he tucked the chain of Ophelia's necklace into his pocket, "now lets be off, you know our hovel ain't too far from here."

Following Maxwell, Rain greeted the people who sat around their campfires and the elders who sat upon their porches, in the sector that was meant for those depraved souls of the 1s and 2s, Rain's soul ached to comfort the community. The people of the outer wall were her family, with her own out of the picture the people of the poorer community replaced the need for intimate love.

Rain was like the stray cat of the community, the people took her in as their own child, she was the one who could always be seen smiling and dancing in the square, her circumstances never made her who she was, and she had the community to thank for that.

"Rain, I'm sure you've meet Goody Tawe," Maxwell said stopping Rain in her tracks. Rain smiled and extending her hand she shook Goody Tawe's hand.

"How do ya do ma'am," Rain said.

Goody Tawe said nothing at first and then smiled before taking Rain's hand, "you have a wonderful set of hips and a waistline that could put those bureaucrats to shame."

Raising her hands Rain did a spin and shrugged her shoulders, "the miracle of starvation is not fer everyone."

"I've got a dress that'll suit you quite nicely dear, follow me." Goody Tawe said pulling Rain beside her to her small hut made of mud brick and a tin roof. The door was wooden, one of the only fully working wooden doors on this side of the tracks. Goody Tawe had been a 1 her entire life, she knew no other life than the one she lead in the agricultural district. Being one of the older residents she even had a tin roof, a starking contrast to the many homes with woven palm fronds as roofs.

Inside Goody Tawe's abode lay a small cot with a wool blanket, a brick oven, a wooden stove, and wooden work bench where she hemed dresses out of the discarded pieces of fabric from the upper class waste facility. Dresses hung on wires that stretched from wall to wall in the hut, to move to the table one had to pass between dresses that acted more like curtains in the small space.

"Now if memory serves your favorite color is a pale blue yes?" Goody Tawe said glancing around her station and pulling out a pale blue fully skirted dress lined with a thin petticoat and lined with a working corset out from a box, she happily displayed the dress to Rain.

Rain's heart jumped from excitement as she realized that Goody Tawe had been able to match the fabric perfectly in order to fix what was left of Rain's only possession from her mother.

"I gave it a good wash and even polished her riding boots so they look as good as new," Goody Tawe said bending down and pulling the old boots from under her work bench.

When she stood she hadn't expected Rain to pull her into a hug and felt her heart skip a beat as Rain embraced to old woman, a tear threatening to escape her tear ducts.

"No there there dear you know that it was no trouble."

Rain fighting to remain composed breathed in the the old woman's scent, she smelled like honey and the grass after rain, a smell she would never forget. Pulling back she apologized and thanked Goody Tawe again.

"I don't know howta ever pay you back ma'am," Rain began, looking between Maxwell and Goody Tawe.

"Don't mention it dear, Maxwell was the one who brought the boots and dress to me, I'll tell you that heming dresses is no easy task, but if you ever need a job you can pay me back that way.

"Maxwell?" Rain began, putting the pieces together, her mother's dress had disappeared a month ago, when Rain began staying with Maxwell Jones, "you did this fer me?"

Maxwell turning around to cover his face from flushing laughed off his nerves, "I did it because yer gonna needa look good if yer gonna meet Alo."

Rain's heart pumping with excitement caused her to jump up and down and hugging Maxwell she twirled and danced with Goody Tawe, "I'm gonna meet the Alo!!"

"Yes ma'am, that's why I need you to decipher his last letter, the resistance thinks you could be useful to 'em given yer vast knowledge on spirituality," Maxwell said as he folded up the dress and reached for the riding boots, "Ophelia should have the wool cape done too, we should head on out."

When they reached the hut that was the Jones residence Rain pulled together her things and hurriedly set herself by the fire pit in the hut, waving to Maxwell she pat the ground next to her and urged him to hurry, "common lets go lets go!"

Maxwell rolling his eyes smiled and laughed at the urgency Rain displayed, pulling the letter from his cot he opened the letter and began by taking a seat beside Rain.

"Luke 19:1, 40-42 and Matthew‬ ‭7:17-19‬." Maxwell said perplexed, this was the first time he'd seen the names and numbers of books and chapters, usually the message was written in a different form.

"Those are books and chapters and verses in the Bible," Rain began, reaching into her bag and pulling out a thick and very worn down book she began thinning through the yellowed pages to the chapters and reading out the verses in order.

"And having entered, he walked through Jericho. And he said to them, "I tell you, that if these will keep silent, the stones themselves will cry out." And when he drew near, seeing the city, he wept over it, saying: "If only you had known, indeed even in this your day, which things are for your peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes." So then, every good tree produces good fruit, and the evil tree produces evil fruit. A good tree is not able to produce evil fruit, and an evil tree is not able to produce good fruit. Every tree which does not produce good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire."

Ophelia who wondered in between the change between Luke and Matthew interjected giving her opinion on the message, "wasn't the old steel mill on the south end of the district burned down a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah the steel mill caught fire suddenly and wiped out some of the fruit bearing trees in that area." Maxwell began before being cut off by Rain who seemed to have everything click into place for her.

"That's what he means! The trees cast into fire, near to the city but far enough to weep from atop Jericho. It's gotta be where we'll see him Max!"

"Well we better get ready then Rain, it looks like the sun'll be down soon." And with that Rain noticed the distant sounds of cannons shooting off in the distance.

Stopping for a moment she stared up into the sky and placed a hand over her heart, "blessed be the innocent who know no pain."